Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a surgical stockinette that can be applied to body appendages during medical procedures, and more particularly to a surgical stockinette that is easily expanded due to its folded construction.
Background Art
A sterile environment is critical during surgery. For this reason, a patient is generally completely covered during surgery except for the portion of the body undergoing the operation. Techniques for maintaining sterile operating environments generally require that portions of a patient that are not subject to the operation should be isolated from the surgical site to reduce the risk of contamination and infection. Generally a surgical drape is therefore used to isolate the surgical site from other parts of the patient. For example, if a person is having an appendix removed, the person will generally be covered with a surgical drape to maintain integrity of the sterile field. A small portion of the person's body above the appendix will be exposed through the drape such that it is accessible to the surgeon. Alternatively, the patient can be covered entirely. The surgeon can then cut through either a fenestration in the drape or through incise material in the drape to expose the appendix region.
Matters can become complicated when operating on limbs. It may be necessary to have the person's entire leg exposed through an aperture in the surgical drape. To help maintain a sterile operating environment, a stockinette is used to cover portions of the patient's limb that is not subject to the operating procedure.
Turning now to FIG. 1, illustrated therein is one prior art surgical stockinette 100. The stockinette 100 is initially packaged in a rolled configuration, with an open end rolled back across the stockinette 100 again and again to form a ring. The stockinette 100 is applied to a patient's limb 101 by inserting the limb 101 into an open end 102 of the stockinette 100. The rolled portion 103 is then unrolled across the limb 101, thereby covering the limb 101.
The problem with this prior art stockinette 100 is that it is troublesome to apply. Application generally requires two people 104,105 during the entire operation. A first person 104 must lift the limb 101 and hold it high in the air so that the large rolled portion 103 will fit under the limb 101. Furthermore, the second person 105 must then make numerous unrolling motions to get the stockinette 100 on the limb 101. In making these numerous unrolling motions, the second person 105 has a significantly heightened risk of touching the limb 101, thereby potentially compromising the sterile field. The application of this prior art stockinette 100 is time-consuming and cumbersome, which can result in delaying the surgical procedure.
There is thus a need for an improved stockinette.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.